Re: Price not related to internal cost
"LEO also gives the opportunity to talk directly to a cell phone. "
Not really. Phones don't have the power or a steerable antenna. The whole mobile network architecture is based on being able to reuse frequencies which makes a satellite footprint suck up a huge amount of service slots if the customer hardware is compatible. In most of the developed world there is phone service in just about every place there is a high enough density of users to justify a tower. There may be some opportunity for sat<->tower applications where an area is on the borderline for what it would cost to place a tower and run links (wire, microwave, etc). I'm not that bothered that when I'm out in the woods that I don't have signal. It can be a blessing. I take my handheld HAM radio with me and I'm not traipsing off of official trails, traveling alone or going out when the weather is looking dodgy. Decades into infesting this planet and, knock on wood, its never been an issue. I'd get rather pissed off if I was sitting around the campfire with a group and people were neck deep in their phones and taking calls. They should have stayed at home wrapped in bubblewrap and packing peanuts.